August 29, 2013 — Anthony Cathey leads a crowd of some 40 low income fast food workers and their supporters in chants Thursday morning while picketing outside of the McDonalds restaurant on Union Ave. for a wage rate increase. Workers are looking to increase their wage to $15 an hour. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

August 29, 2013 — Christina Condori joins a crowd of some 40 low income fast food workers and their supporters Thursday morning to picket outside of the McDonalds restaurant on Union Ave. for a wage rate increase. Workers are looking to increase their wage to $15 an hour. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

August 29, 2013 — Bennett Foster, left, joins a crowd of some 40 low income fast food workers and their supporters in chants Thursday morning while picketing outside of the McDonalds restaurant on Union Ave. for a wage rate increase. Workers are looking to increase their wage to $15 an hour. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

A group of fast food workers, joined by supporters and community activists, walked off the job and rallied at the Civil Rights Museum on Thursday to demand a $15-per-hour wage, more than double the Tennessee minimum wage earned by most.

The local workers were part of a wave of nationwide protests in which thousands of employees in 58 cities staged protests this week.

A group that eventually swelled to about 60 people formed at AFSCME Local 1733 downtown, where eight people shared their experiences of working long hours for low wages. A group of workers also rallied outside of a McDonald's on Union Thursday morning after walking off the job and held signs for passing cars.

"If I made $15 an hour I wouldn't have to depend on government assistance," said McDonald's employee Daisha Mims, 24. "This year I could only buy two of my three kids shoes for school. That feels awful."

Mims said that a full-time minimum wage job did not net her enough money to provide for her children or perform necessary repairs on her truck, making it increasingly difficult to get to work.

In Greater Memphis restaurants, 11,430 food preparation workers in May 2012 earned $8.39 per hour on average, or $17,450 for a year, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

The nationwide protests were largely funded by the Service Employees International Union, which facilitated walkouts in dozens of cities this week.

"It's not just a Memphis thing," said Herbert Lester, chairman of Workers Interfaith Network and one of the organizers of the local protest. "People are realizing nationally that no one can live on a minimum wage job."

Representatives from the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and the Memphis Bus Riders Union also joined the workers Thursday, along with a handful of attorneys who advised them of legal options should they face retaliation upon returning to work.

City Councilman Myron Lowery also paid a short visit to the group, offering his support to the movement.

"We have one of the highest poverty levels in the country," Lowery said. "How do we reduce it? There's no silver bullet, but this is one piece of a big puzzle for reducing poverty in this city and we've got to support it."